A Canby Cougar is about to take flight. Senior goalkeeper Halle Adair has signed to play soccer for the Oregon Tech Owls in Klamath Falls next season, it was recently announced.
Halle joins an elite class of 2020 signees that includes 5-6 forward Kiah Wetzell from Milwaukie, 5-8 midfielder Olivia Kreiser from Boise, 5-11 defender Valerie Zabinski from Phoenix, and 5-6 goalie Sydni Nakamura and 5-6 forward midfielder Mehana Ortiz — both from the same high school in Mililani, Hawaii.
The Owls are coming off a fantastic 2019, in which they won their first-ever Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season championship and finished in the top 25 of the NAIA rankings for the first time in school history.
Cascade Conference on Twitter
@OregonTechOwls win first ever CCC women’s soccer regular season championship and earn @underarmour Team of the Week honor. #ThisIsTheCCC
Head Coach Brandon Porter was also named CCC Coach of the Year. He said he was pleased with this year’s recruiting class, including Halle, calling it “a deep group of talent and positional diversity.”
“Building off of this past fall’s success and our regular season championship, it is important that the players we bring in continue to strengthen us from a technical, tactical, and athletic perspective,” he said. “If you aren’t getting better, you’re probably getting worse, so we are excited that this group of recruits certainly makes us better.”
In addition to her talents on the soccer pitch, Porter said Adair is a “great student and person,” whom he expects to keep the level of competition high among the team’s goalies.
“Halle is a player that we feel adds depth to our goalkeeping crew,” he said. “She has great aggressiveness, reactions and a get-to-work attitude.”
Canby Women’s Soccer Coach Maria VanAcker said she is “so proud of Halle and all her accomplishments.”
“She has worked so hard over the years to establish herself as an elite goalkeeper, and a leader on and off the field,” she said. “Her passion for the game and her teammates make her a really special player; she’s always reaching for new heights. I’m looking forward to all her success at the next level!”
Halle plans to major in medical imaging at Oregon Tech. She is the daughter of Bridget and Rich Adair.
Photo by Derek Wiley, sports editor for the Canby Herald, Wilsonville Spokesman and Molalla Pioneer.
